Murder on the Horizon

Search and Rescue Mystery #3

by M.L. Rowland

The Search and Rescue mystery series returns readers to Timber Creek, where the hot, dry Santa Ana winds are blowing. But more than just the threat of wildfire endangers the tiny mountain community...

Gracie and her Search and Rescue teammates are searching along the highway in the middle of the blisteringly hot Mojave Desert when they make a grisly discovery—a trash bag containing human body parts. Not long after, Gracie's growing friendship with a ten-year-old runaway draws her unwittingly into the secretive, hate-filled world of the boy's family—a group of gun-toting extremists. As a wildfire roars into Timber Creek, Gracie finds herself caught up in an explosive plot that, unless she stops it, will destroy countless innocent lives.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Contemporary, Fiction

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 4, 2015

About the author

How far would you go to save the life of a stranger? Jump out of a helicopter into four feet of snow? Sleep outside in the winter? Dangle on a rope over the edge of a cliff?

M.L. Rowland has done all of these things and more, all in the line of service as a mountain Search and Rescue volunteer. During her twelve years on Search and Rescue, Rowland participated in hundreds of search and rescue missions and trainings, including technical ropes rescues, helicopter insertions and evacuations, and searches for lost children, hikers, snowboarders, mountain bikers and criminal evidence, in alpine, desert and urban environments. She served as the team’s Training Officer and participated in community events and public speaking engagements. Trained in land navigation, and desert and winter survival, including avalanche awareness and self-arrest, she holds a certification in tracking from the State of California. Rowland also served as a member and on the Board of a Colorado County Sheriff’s Department All-Hazards Incident Management Team (IMT) which manages local search and rescue operations, brush and wildfires, planned community events and other critical incidents.

Rowland is an avid political activist, naturalist and environmentalist. She lives with her husband, Mark, and their chocolate lab, Molly, at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in south-central Colorado.

Reviews

[LORI CASWELL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dollycas’s Thoughts

M.L. Rowland continues to top herself.

With the wildfires and drought in the news this third installment of the Search and Rescue Mysteries is especially topical. Gracie and the other team members are on standby and the community is on high alert as the Santa Ana winds could shift at any moment and put Timber Creek and Camp Ponderosa right in the path of the wildfire that is ravaging the nearby mountains.

In addition to the fires, the SAR crew makes an heart stopping discovery in the desert and a 10 year old boy is a frequent cause of concern as he keeps running away from home with the team being called out to search for him. Gracie befriends the child and his grandmother to try to get to the bottom of his story. What she learns will have readers glued to the pages.

Gracie has just become the manager of Camp Ponderosa after the huge shake up that took place in Murder Off The Beaten Path. She is working with a smaller crew to finish out this season and that keeps her pretty busy without much spare time. The reason I truly enjoy this character is because she always goes above and beyond expectations. She makes time for people in need and works hard to earn their trust and really get to know them.

We meet several new characters in this story and some will truly touch your heart, others will have you thinking twice and some are just downright scary. Rowland brings them all roaring to life in a way that will totally grab onto you and not let go.

The suspense in this story builds and builds as we follow Gracie down several paths we wish she wouldn’t travel. At one point she gets herself into such a dire circumstance I was literally cringing as I was reading.

Rowland not only writes a fantastic suspense filled story but she describes the Timber Creek area so perfectly that it is so incredibly easy to escape right into this book. You are driving down the roads or hiking up the paths or running along plateau right along with Gracie and sometimes her dog, Minnie. Sometimes you wish you were really there to protect or help her.

I have enjoyed all 3 books in this series very much. Each one even more than the last. This one ends with Gracie at a crossroad in a her life and I am really looking forward to her next adventure wherever it takes her.

[Sherry Fundin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cover for Murder on the Horizon by M L Rowland may have you thinking this is a cozy mystery, but it is so much more.

Gracie has a big heart and gives it freely. Why people would wish her harm, well….you have to read about her to find out for yourself. She will have you trekking the Mojave and saving people from burning buildings, befriending an abused eleven year old child and dodging bullets from the extremists…

When I first started reading Murder on the Horizon, I never anticipated the suspense and horror between the pages. The storyline kept expanding and taking me deeper into a world filled with hate.

My only complaint…I didn’t like when she entered….but what happened while she was there added some great elements to the story. This is fiction, so I will let the author take me where she will. Thanks for a exciting journey, M.

This is my first foray into M L Rowland books and I don’t feel I missed anything by starting on Book III…missed anything except more good books. So if this is going to be your first purchase of her books, why not start at the beginning, or grab all three in the series pack?

To see more visit http://www.fundinmental.com

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book in a Giveaway. I thank all the parties associated with the Giveaway for it. This the first time for this author for me. I found the descriptions of the scenery excellent I could visualize the area being describe. I did enjoy the book but found the main and others not well flashed out. The MC often put herself in harms way as rushed from incident to another one. The events moved very fast and I wonder a out her trip to Detroit was necessary. It didn't seem necessary for the plot which was okay.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bouncing between the Mojave Desert and Timber Lake and the surrounding mountains, Gracie finds herself with Search and Rescue (SAR) hunting for a runaway from a local survivalist compound which leads her to suspect something else is happening and it is connected with hate crimes and white supremacy. At the same time, wildfires threaten the community, her home, and Camp Ponderosa where Grace has been hired as manager after the prior staff and manager were arrested for criminal activities (Book #2 in this series). At the same time, Gracie is being forced to face her own demons and personal emotional failures, learn to forgive and open herself emotionally.

This was really a good final entry in this trilogy, with just enough high action thrills to keep you engaged without feeling like this is a summer blockbuster film. Learned a great deal more about SAR and its role in wildfire evacuation. Watched Gracie grow up emotionally, grow into self-awareness, even if kicking and screaming along the way. Watched her realize that places and life are not always what they look on the surface - bucolic beautiful quiety Timber Lake is experiencing the same white supremacy and hate crimes as urban areas; urban areas have sections where nature is reclaiming. Her dog Mnnie is a steady presence but this is not a K-9 story and Minnie is just a sweet companion who helps Gracie along her emotional journey.

I still wanted occasionally to slap Gracie and say 'grow up!' but far less often than in the prior book. And I just loved the ending - a very Tom Hanks at the crossroads literally in Castaway with 4 options of what direction to go. It suits Gracie and where she finds herself at that point.

[Connie N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

#3 in the Search and Rescue Cozy Mystery series

This is such a good series with an appealing heroine, and I'm disappointed that it's over. There's quite a bit of reference to previous books in the series, but I don't think you need to have read them to understand this story. Gracie Kincaid is manager of an outdoor adventure park, but more importantly she is a volunteer with the search and rescue team. When asked to search for a missing boy, the team comes across some body parts on the side of the road. And as Gracie gets closer to the boy when he's found, she finds some disturbing connections to local extreme hate groups. Through Gracie's thoughts, this book sends a strong message against prejudice. But it remains a very readable story. I like Gracie, and she's not too prone to taking chances, although I thought one of her choices was totally dangerous and crazy. Exciting climax at the end. The finale is clearly open-ended to leave room for the author to continue with the series.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has become a favorite. I think it would appeal to fans of Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon. The settings are described well, interesting and complex storylines and characters.

[Patrizia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Più che un giallo vero e proprio, questo è quasi il racconto di come la vita possa cambiare da un momento all'altro. Mi verrebbe da dire che è un libro "di iniziazione". Fa pensare e ti fa trepidare insieme alla protagonista. Non vedo l'ora di leggere il libro successivo per vedere come la storia evolverà, perché, alla fine, molto rimane in sospeso.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gracie Kinkaid's life is in an uproar.

First, on a Search and Rescue mission, she finds a black plastic trash bag containing four severed human hands.

Then she "rescues" an 11-year-old boy, Baxter Edwards, who keeps running away from home.

The home of the Robinson family, Gracie's new neighbors, is destroyed by arson, and one of them subsequently dies.

While out jogging with her dog Minnie, Gracie is accosted by several children who aim guns at her.

Gracie's best friend and mentor, Ralph, is cold and withdrawn since Gracie rejected his proposal of marriage.

Gracie sees a rusty white pickup several times around town and believes the driver might be stalking her. There are also the creepy phone calls she's been receiving and the "Wanted" poster with her face inside a bullseye target.

As if all that isn't enough, there is a forest fire raging in a nearby canyon, which could shift and threaten her home and Camp Ponderosa, where she works ...

I have really enjoyed this trilogy. The "cliffhanger" ending lets the reader imagine how Gracie decides what direction she wants her life to take: Tucson, Los Angeles, Detroit, or somewhere else entirely.

[Alton Motobu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several plot lines: skinhead survivalists start a compound in the woods and seem bent on some sort of mischief, a young boy wants to escape the group and and seeks Gracie's help, an arsonist is on the loose and kills an innocent home owner, Gracie receives threatening phone calls and messages from someone, she is torn between two lovers, her mother asks her to return to Detroit to make amends with Gracie's abusive step father, and a raging wildfire endangers everyone. In the climax Gracie is trapped by fish hooks dangling in a bunker; they get embedded in her skin and she is unable to free herself after 2 hours. With a fire raging outside and skinheads pursuing her inside why doesn't she just pull them out and escape? In the end the plot lines are resolved except for which lover does she choose. The author does not let us know; Gracie makes a decision and moves forward, but we don't know what she decided. This is the best of the trilogy, but it does not look like the series will continue with this sort of conclusion. Perhaps Gracie will appear elsewhere in a new line of work.

[M. Sprouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
I started reading this series because of the search and rescue outdoor aspects of the plot. This appears to be the last of the series. Though I'd probably would have read a fourth, I can't say I'm to disappointed. Except for the first book of the series, the author did not come anywhere near full utilization of the opportunities the setting presented. Gracie, the protagonist, often came off as self-centered and immature. In this last book, the forest fire and the search and rescue aspect that seemed ripe for suspenseful action, but were mostly neglected. I just couldn't get into this one until the last third, and even then I wasn't all in.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was an interesting end to the series. I just don’t understand why some people hate others for no reason other then that they are different from them. I like Gracie, she’s a good, strong character and always does what is right.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

a book where young woman who is part of a search and rescue unit while constantly gets in trouble by

[Vicki Gooding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cover that grabs you, a story that keeps you. Action-packed and enjoyed it fully.

[OpenBookSociety.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

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Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

What a great, read! This is the first mystery by M. L. Rowland that I’ve read, and it won’t be the last. Murder on the Horizo’ is the third of the Search and Rescue Mystery series, and it can be read as a standalone. Personally, I would like to go back to read the first two because not only is this very well written, but the protagonist, Gracie, is an intelligent, spunky woman who makes the perfect sleuth.

Gracie Kinkaid is a seasoned member of the Search and Rescue team serving Timber Creek, California, and a manager of a church-owned camp where retreats and other specialty functions are held. Allen, a soft-spoken man covered in tattoos is the head cook. An ex-con, he had earned his degree on the inside and he worked hard at the camp. Gracie’s dog, Minnie, is her constant companion. Camp Ponderosa, Minnie, and Search and Rescue were her priorities.

There were three Search and Rescue challenges that changed Gracie’s life that season; the first was being on a callout when she and her team found a trash bag of human body parts. The second was meeting an eleven-year-old boy named Baxter who was a chronic runaway. Third was a wildfire that raged out of control that threatened her world – Timber Creek and Camp Ponderosa – which could lead to a callout if evacuations began.

Camp Ponderosa was operating on a shoestring until the following spring when bookings would bring the next influx of operating money. In the meantime, Gracie and Allen did as much of the required maintenance between themselves to save the expense of adding a new maintenance manager.

Family challenges brought the simmering rage inside Gracie front and center, situations that would require her to find a way to forgive, or continue to battle within herself and with her mother.

Baxter, the bright, inquisitive adolescent continued to run away, and his destination began to be Gracie’s home. Until the day that she was confronted by his ‘family’. She would need to cut Baxter loose, another challenge as she genuinely cared for the boy, or risk being targeted personally and professionally by the ‘family’ members. And they hadn’t yet begun to inflict their nightmare on Timber Creek…

Gracie Kinkaid’s character has been shaped by adversity, and the dichotomy of simmering rage and gentle caring are not unnoticed. Her character is fully three-dimensional, someone who I could see as being a close acquaintance as she calls few people friends. Each of the characters in the novel are as developed as necessary for their role. Baxter and, of course Gracie, are my favorites because they share similar traits even with different backgrounds. They are definitely people who are worth cheering on through even the very worst moments.

The plot is completely engaging, keeping my attention throughout. The plot twists kept me on my toes, even when I thought that the bad guys were caught. The author is an absolute master of suspense who plies her craft well, bringing yet one more surprise than this reader anticipated. This is not a lightweight read, but while it has bad guys in every sense of the term, one also sees the potential in a young boy and a woman whose life circumstances could easily shape them to be one of the bad guys. They choose, however, to go against their upbringings to be better people. I highly recommend Murder on the Horizon to adults of any age and older teens, who appreciate well-written, gritty suspense. It is a powerful novel that stays with the reader after the last page is turned.

[Cathy Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

M.L. Rowland's Search and Rescue mystery series became a favorite of mine from the very first book, Zero-Degree Murder. Rowland is extremely adept at writing action sequences that have you turning the pages as fast as you can go.

But most of the reason for my preference is her main character, Gracie Kinkaid, a very likeable, intelligent, and brave young woman who loves to help others. (Through her, readers also learn how to prepare for emergencies.) Gracie has several personal issues to deal with in Murder on the Horizon: her mother, her stepfather, as well as Rob and Ralph, the two men in her life. Her personal issues are made more difficult because she feels as though she's at a crossroads in her life, and she's not sure what she wants her future to hold. Of course, all heroes have flaws, and one of Gracie's is her impulsiveness. There's a scene with one of the extremists in which Gracie puts herself in unnecessary danger-- a situation that certainly had me wanting to have a heart-to-heart with her about the wisdom of zipping her lip.

Yes, I enjoyed all the action sequences, and yes, I enjoyed putting my nose right in the middle of Gracie's business, but another thing that I found a lot of pleasure in was the relationship between Gracie and Baxter, the little boy who kept running away from his father and all the other extremists in the compound tucked away in the forest. Baxter is funny, smart as a whip, and sometimes very exasperating. A little boy caught in a situation not of his making when all he wants is to be "typical." Baxter made me laugh, and he broke my heart.

Murder on the Horizon has an ending that made me wonder what is going to happen next. One thing I do know for certain is that I hope I'll be seeing Gracie again soon.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder on the Horizon is the 3rd book in the Gracie Kincaid Search and Rescue Series. This series has been full of action and good solid mysteries. Gracie in now manager of Ponderosa Camp which was where she worked in the second book. She is still involved in the SAR team in her area. This series hasn't become stale and predictable. This book contained extremists, a runaway ten year old, wildfires, and search and rescues missions.

Gracie is intelligent and independent. She likes living alone in her cabin in the mountains. City life is not for her. I liked the camaraderie she has with her SAR teams members and the cook at the camp. One of the best parts on this book is her relationship with Baxter who is a ten year old boy who just wants to be normal and has a love for books. He, however, is living in an extremist compound. The mystery is very well written and contains action that kept me interested as a reader. The romance element is somewhat understated in this book which I liked. It is part of Gracie's personality but it made me interested in her possible future happiness. I want it to work out somehow. The ending of the book made me think that this series is evolving and will not be predictable or stale in the future. If you like mysteries with action, well developed characters, great outdoors scenes with SAR activities you should like this book. It was a very entertaining read.

[Ginger Hostetler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading the excellent book, "Murder on the Horizon" by ML Rowland. All I could say was WOW, WOW, WOW. Oh, my! Wow! with tears in my eyes and deep emotions running through my entire soul! I just kept saying that, over and over. What a fantastic book! Non stop action; Marcia has perfectly conveyed a few days in the adventurous life of Gracie. Wow! I'm sad it's over. I am inspired to be tougher, that's for sure, and maybe forgive. Thank you, ML Rowland

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent addition to this series. The growth and development of Gracie throughout the series is rewarding to see. Well plotted, layered characters, and tense situations keep your attention. For fans of the outdoors, well written mysteries, and strong lead characters, this series is for you. A reader will not regret exploring this well done series. Five Stars

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway on www.dollycas.com. Thank you so much for the copy of the book. A great mystery with lots of twists and turns. It will keep you guessing until the end of the book. This is the third book in the series but it can be read alone. This is my first book by this author and I loved it. Now I need to find copies of the first two books in the series.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought with the dog on the cover and the theme search and rescue the dog would be involved in the action. Sadly she was not, though she looks to be a Border Collie and probably wasn't interested in that line of work.

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review at Cozy Girl Reads

[Jeanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much like the writing style of this author, and I want to find and read the first two in the series. Excellent characters and powerful plot.

[Marcy Graybill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, the only good thing about the book is it has a dog in it.